Chapter 589 - 490: Burglary

Chapter 589: Chapter 490: Burglary

Shen Xin tried expanding the search area to see if he could find any trace of the suspect.

In the end, he found nothing.

"You’ve done great already." Zhang Hancheng patted Shen Xin’s shoulder, praising him and letting him know it was okay.

At least they had confirmed the suspect’s escape route.

"Come on, let’s go back and take a look."

Zhang Hancheng called everyone over, and they returned to the spot where the suspect had taken a detour.

Shen Xin led Odin and Frigga, continuing the search from the point where the trail had turned back.

This path also led to a road at its end.

But after a thorough search, they still found nothing.

This meant the suspect had indeed turned back at that exact spot.

Zhao Tianxing muttered, "His behavior is really strange."

Shen Xin nodded in agreement.

He estimated the distances in each direction.

From the small gate, going right, walking to the end, and following the west side of Building 1 would also lead to the outdoor parking lot.

But based on the final location Odin tracked the scent to—the parking spot—it was clearly shorter to go left and cut through the small plaza.

So there was no reason for him to take the long way around.

’Unless he wasn’t familiar with the area.’

’But that’s not right either. When he arrived, he most likely came straight through the plaza. He wouldn’t have taken a detour.’

Besides, they had expanded the search area, and there was no trace of his scent over there.

’So why did he go right?’

Shen Xin couldn’t figure it out and had to let it go for the time being.

Meanwhile, Liu Baoqing had already begun arranging for officers to canvass all the nearby shops.

They were to see if anyone had spotted someone around 2:00 AM.

There shouldn’t have been many people around at that hour, so a lone person standing still would be quite conspicuous.

After a moment’s thought, Shen Xin led Odin and Frigga to the primary crime scene.

’What if we find something?’

They took Elevator No. 2.

During the fire, it was unlikely anyone would have used the elevator.

Sure enough, inside Elevator No. 2, Frigga had no reaction, but Odin let out a bark, indicating he had caught the same scent.

They stepped out.

The floor was flooded with wastewater, which severely interfered with the scent.

As they exited the elevator area, Shen Xin was about to lead the dogs to the right, as Apartment 22 was in that direction.

But Odin suddenly stopped short and turned his head to look down the left corridor.

"Odin, what is it?" Shen Xin asked immediately.

Odin barked once.

’There’s a scent over there.’

Surprised, Shen Xin gestured for him to immediately give chase.

Odin kept his nose to the ground, sniffing everywhere as he moved slowly.

Frigga followed, and through her thoughts, Shen Xin could also confirm there was a scent here.

Shen Xin turned his head to look.

’That’s not right. Apartment 22 is in the opposite direction. The suspect had no reason to come this way.’

There were 32 units on this floor. Odin led Shen Xin to a stop in front of Apartment 1407.

He let out a bark.

Shen Xin’s expression changed, as did Zhao Tianxing’s, who was following him. Zhao Tianxing whispered, "Holy crap, don’t tell me the suspect lives here."

Otherwise, why would the suspect’s scent be here?

Shen Xin immediately signaled for Odin to be quiet.

He sent Zhao Tianxing to get backup.

The entire floor was empty now; if the resident was around, they’d be downstairs with the others.

After Zhao Tianxing left, Shen Xin held Odin and Frigga back and observed the surroundings.

’It’s unlikely he lives here.’

’So he was hiding?’

Looking around, Shen Xin thought it was improbable. Although some residents had placed shoe racks in the hallway, it wasn’t like a traditional corridor-style apartment building, cluttered with enough junk to hide a person.

Everything was visible at a glance. There was nowhere to hide.

Besides, even if he needed to hide, Apartment 7 and Apartment 22 were separated by 15 units. He wouldn’t have hidden this far away.

’If you were going to stake someone out, you’d hide in the elevator lobby.’

Just then, as his eyes swept over the wall, Shen Xin suddenly noticed something.

The smoke had come from the direction of Apartment 22, and upon reaching the stairwell, it had billowed into it.

That’s why there wasn’t much smoke near Apartment 7, and the soot staining wasn’t as severe.

The public area of this corridor didn’t have tiles on the walls, just white plaster.

The walls were covered in all sorts of illegal sticker ads and stamped marks. They were also filthy, bearing various unknown smudges.

From this alone, it was clear the building’s management was really lax.

Then, on the wall to the left of Apartment 7’s door, there was a mark that had been scratched by something.

Shen Xin moved closer to observe it carefully.

Judging by the mark’s width, depth, and height, it looked as if someone had casually scraped it into the wall with a key.

It was the letter "W."

It didn’t seem to have any special meaning; perhaps someone with idle hands had scraped it casually.

Just as he was thinking this, Zhao Tianxing and the others arrived.

Zhang Hancheng looked around and also immediately sensed something was off. He turned and asked about this apartment.

Liu Baoqing quickly had someone confirm the details.

"It’s a young couple. Their IDs are registered. The man’s name is Geng Wei, and the woman is Shi Xiaoqing. We’ve already taken their statements. They don’t know Li Siyu at all."

"They were woken up by property management early this morning and evacuated downstairs. They didn’t notice anything unusual. Later, since they had to go to work, they were allowed back up to change their clothes around 6:00 AM. They should be at work by now."

After speaking, Liu Baoqing’s expression grew a little more serious.

If there was a problem here, it meant they had made an oversight.

Zhang Hancheng remained silent and asked for the interview records.

In a pause during his thoughts, Shen Xin’s attention returned to the mark on the wall.

A thought struck him, and Shen Xin immediately headed to Apartment 22.

The situation around Apartment 22 was much worse.

The nearby walls were completely black, and the small advertisements stuck to them were curled from the intense heat.

The search hadn’t finished yet.

Shen Xin didn’t enter the apartment, but carefully examined the walls on either side of the door.

When he looked at the right side of the door, his gaze sharpened.

There really was one!

On the right side of the door, at about the same height, there was a mark.

It was also the scratched-in type.

The wall was now blackened by soot, but the mark was still visible.

It wasn’t a "W," but a circle with a cross in the middle. ℯℯ𝑙.

Shen Xin quickly called Zhang Hancheng over.

"There’s one here too."

Startled, Liu Baoqing hurried back to Apartment 7 to check.

Zhao Tianxing was on the same wavelength as Shen Xin. He said urgently, "Shen Xin, could these be marks left by burglars?"

Shen Xin nodded. That was exactly what he was thinking.

Some burglary rings do leave specific marks outside apartments.

It’s basically casing the joint, passing information to their accomplices, and waiting for an opportunity to break in and steal.

But that was in the past. In recent years, especially in cities, this has become rare.

Because there are surveillance cameras everywhere.

The difficulty of picking locks has also increased significantly. It’s not like the old locks that could be jimmied open with a plastic card.

Nowadays, there are high-security locks, like Class C ones, which many locksmiths have to break open by force. Not to mention digital code locks and fingerprint locks that send a remote alert to the owner if tampered with.

On top of that, with cash being used less and less, a burglar wouldn’t find much money even if they did break in.

The risk and reward are completely disproportionate.

These days, burglaries are more common in rural villages and suburban areas.

Of course, that’s not an absolute rule.

For example, even though a Class C lock cylinder is hard to pick, many people just pull the door shut when they leave and don’t bother to deadbolt it.

In that situation, even a Class C lock can be jimmied open in minutes.

Ultimately, it’s because the public safety environment is so good that many people have lost their awareness of such things.

Shen Xin looked at Zhang Hancheng.

His expression was very serious.

Shen Xin suggested, "Captain Zhang, I think we should check every apartment in this building to see if there are any other similar marks."

A burglary gone wrong, where the burglar was discovered by Li Siyu and killed her in a panic, is also a possibility.

Zhang Hancheng nodded, then added, "Shen Xin, don’t you find it a bit strange to commit murder and then burn the scene, all for a simple theft?"

If you’re caught stealing, you just run.

Could a single girl really stop a burglar?

Besides, to kill someone over a theft, then go to great lengths to use materials on site to burn the scene and destroy evidence, and instead of leaving, go and steal the surveillance recorder...

What were you thinking in the first place? Why not try to avoid the cameras from the start?

But since they’d found the marks, they had to investigate.

Immediately, Liu Baoqing arranged for people to search the entire building.

Very quickly, someone reported finding a similar mark on a lower floor, the 13th, outside Apartment 1310.

This time, it was a circle.

And on the entire 13th floor, only this one apartment was marked.

Except for the 14th floor, the lockdown on the other floors had been lifted, and residents were gradually returning.

They knocked on the door, which was answered by a middle-aged woman who lived there.

When questioned, she said she hadn’t noticed the mark by her door, nor had she seen any suspicious people.

Shen Xin didn’t join the search, instead returning to the front of Apartment 7.

Shen Xin squatted down and carefully examined the floor.

Zhang Hancheng followed, immediately guessing what Shen Xin was looking for.

He immediately squatted down, looked, and then said, "No white dust."

Shen Xin nodded.

’I just thought of it. It’s hard to tell how old the marks are just by looking at them.’

However, after scratching the wall, powder would have fallen to the floor.

The powder could be used to determine if the marks were recent.

The property management here was terrible, only collecting fees without doing much, but they did do basic floor cleaning.

After the incident, the 14th floor hadn’t been cleaned yet.

If there was powder, it would mean the mark was made sometime after yesterday.

If it was from before yesterday, it would have surely been cleaned up.

But there was none.

Zhang Hancheng stood up, his brows furrowed even more deeply. He crossed his arms, his thoughts heavy.

’Could it really be a burglary that turned into murder?’

’The direction I just settled on was that it was an acquaintance.’

This was a complete contradiction.

Before long, there was another discovery.

Several floors down, a mark was found on the 7th floor, at Apartment 12.

Further down, all the way to the first floor, no more marks were found.

But there were more discoveries on the floors above the 14th.

Apartments 1610 and 2009 also had marks by their doors.

At Liu Baoqing’s request, everyone checked the floor for dust.

Similarly, there was no white dust left behind.

Liu Baoqing’s expression grew even more serious. "Captain Zhang, don’t tell me this really is a burglary."

"Li Siyu often streamed late at her company, she lived alone, and her apartment was empty, so she was targeted?"

"And when the burglar made their move last night, they didn’t expect anyone to be home. In the heat of the moment, they strangled Li Siyu and then chose to set the place on fire."

Zhang Hancheng was silent.

The appearance of the marks did support the possibility of a burglary.

But he still felt that a simple theft wouldn’t escalate into something so complicated, involving both murder and arson.

However, after so many years of solving cases, he knew that anything was possible.

After a moment of deliberation, Zhang Hancheng said, "Alright, let’s pursue both angles. Register all the apartments with marks."

"Then, during the canvassing, ask again if anyone noticed any suspicious people."

"Also, check with the local police station to see if they’ve received any burglary reports recently."

"Also, the external surveillance. When you check it, the suspect might have left by car or electric scooter. But he stole the recorder, so he’d be carrying something fairly large."

"Start with a two-kilometer radius. Check all the road surveillance footage for any suspicious people or vehicles."